8 Tianguang Plaza

Obtaining overwhelming physical strength and agility was indeed a matter that brought forth immense satisfaction towards a certain Xi Chen who had spent the majority of his life lacking the physical strength to accomplish his goals. The thought that within his seemingly frail and thin limbs concealed a strength that could disintegrate material upon mere contact triggered a surge of youthful euphoria and giddiness.

After all, who didn't desire to possess unlimited strength and speed in a world that was everlastingly critical of the smallest of details?

"Nonetheless, unlimited strength and agility is limited in its usefulness if it were to present the entire time," Xi Chen clucked his tongue in thought.

"There must be conditions that prevent this strength from manifesting. Otherwise, if I were to accidently touch something or a colleague in public…"

As his quick mind indulged in its duty of vividly imagining a live person disintegrating into dust upon mere contact, Xi Chen's back crawled with cold shivers. With quick strokes, he swiped his head to the sides to eliminate the gory scene immersed in unreasonableness and stupidity, and resumed his work.

"First condition – any strength and agility that exceed the normal ranges of my physique should be restricted and unable to influence others on a general basis."

Since he had already cast the die, he couldn't actively participate in the brainstorming and organization of his thoughts. As such, Xi Chen forced himself to divert his attention to every detail that left his lips.

"However, there must be exclusionary clauses. Intentional use, as well as responding to provocations inherent of their respective threats must also be factors of consideration. It would be useless if my strength was to be restricted just because of a silly 'generality clause'."

Holding immense power at his fingertips was an exceedingly pleasant circumstance that held great grandeur and allure, but Xi Chen could easily spot the hidden dangers underneath. Personal considerations aside, the mere display of extraordinary ability in the face of the public of a modern world was a terrifying matter that had to be avoided at every cost.

Besides, should he display any ability that exceeded the normal ranges of performance expected of his physique, a certain collection of national governments was bound to be interested…

As such, he had to consider circumstances and factors of danger and inherent risk, particularly if the danger was aimed towards him or another as the primary targ–

"Forget it. This is becoming more like a terms sheet," Xi Chen dismally laughed whilst shaking his head.

"To hell with it. <Physical strength and agility should be restrained to previous thresholds unless in cases of personal danger or risk>!"

It was a short and concise amendment to his previous desire for an undefined threshold of physical strength and agility, thus no additional grains of sand were cast into the limitless bowl. Alas, Xi Chen keenly observed that the two grains of sand responsible for strength and agility, had flickered with a brilliant light – indicating a change of sorts.

He just didn't know if the intention of his words was conveyed properly, or somewhat distorted in his attempt to simplify his demand. Since the human mind was one that dared to distract itself under prolonged exertion, Xi Chen didn't dare try to dump all of his amendments in a single attempt.

"Since…"

However, since he didn't disintegrate the leaves underneath his feet when he took a step earlier, it seemed to work?

Xi Chen's lips twitched at the bizarre thought of having to carefully watch over his steps in a mixture of anticipation and paranoia. Chasing away another delusion experienced only by the excessive youth, he slung the bag over his shoulders, and soon returned to the streets of Jiangbei City.

This time, he didn't walk along the sidewalks underneath the setting sun, but instead took advantage of public transportation. His destination was not that of an abandoned house's backyard or a miniature forest, but instead a glimmering establishment of gilded morals concealed underneath the heart of the city.

Jiangbei City's behemoth of a market of gambling on stones, or rather, the establishment owned by the tyrant of a Liu Family.

The official name of the establishment was the Tianguang Plaza, but nearly everyone who had attended the venue and were regular customers preferred to affix the nickname and reputation of "hell's market" onto the glamourous market plaza. Junior students, slightly crazed undergraduates, and fully corrupted agents of society all dashed, ambled, and crawled into Tianguang Plaza the instant the clocks screamed seven in the evening.

As per its name, Tianguang Plaza was a full-sized market plaza of ten square kilometers, claiming a sizeable chunk of Jiangbei City's available real estate for itself. The entire venue was decorated with the occasional concrete pillar with bezels filled in with samples of raw and cut stones, and numerous storekeepers enticing their customers into devoting their wallet.

"Tianguang Plaza has now opened! Everyone, please enjoy to your hearts content, and may Fortune shine upon us all!"

The moment Xi Chen's foot departed from the bus and imprinted itself onto the concrete ground of the plaza, he heard the announcer's blast over the speaker systems, prompting him to raise both hands and clamp them over his ears. Soon enough, a tremendous roar echoed as men and women of all ages rushed into the plaza, their irises reflecting a crazed gleam of uncontrollable greed.

"Tsk, the atmosphere's as spicy as usual…"

Xi Chen massaged his sore ears as he carefully and slowly strolled into the plaza, his eyes causally sweeping over the various stalls, storehouses, and open auctions of large stone mounds. As he passed by clusters of people crazily weighing stones and estimating their value with certain applications on their phones as well as Baidu's infamous search queries, he took his time enjoying a clean sweep of the stones that Tianguang Plaza had to offer.

Although he wasn't certain regarding stone gambling establishments operated by other influential families, the Tianguang Plaza owned by the Liu Family of Beijing was true to normal business ethics. Adhering to government regulation, all stones brought to the plaza originated from mines both certified and annually confirmed to possess deposits of rare gemstones and material.

The stones were then bought by anticipating gamblers who then, by regulation of Tianguang Plaza, brought them to the stone-cutting stands distributed throughout the plaza. Depending on whether they were willing to take the risk or not, the purchased stones could be opened by themselves, or by a professional stonemason.

The only regulation that irked several experienced gamblers was that every stone purchased, they had to be opened to prevent any acts of deceit or fraud. However much they wagged their tongues in discontent, the same veterans of anticipatory torture attended the venue every day business opened.

"Should I… start here?"

Xi Chen muttered as he stopped before a set of relatively untouched shelves filled with rough stones. The chunks of stone were of different sizes and shapes, and from the contours of their surfaces, it was obvious that they were unearthed from different sections and depths of the mine. The storekeeper was belligerently arguing and persuading a customer regarding another sizeable chunk of stone, and several others were intensely staring into a single chunk of stone suspected to house jade.

Compared to other storehouses where each and every shelf was occupied by at least a dozen, crowding people and prospective "experts", the storehouse before Xi Chen could be considered barren. No more than seven customers total explored the store's collection of a hundred and fifty pieces of rough stone, presenting a rather miserable atmosphere, but the storekeeper seemed relatively unaffected.

"In this case…"

Since there weren't too many people, Xi Chen was bound to attempt his idea. Placing the soft webbing of his right hand against the base of his nose as if in deep thought, he formulated his statement in a swift manner.

"<For the next thirty minutes, all stone covering before me shall appear translucent>."

Much to his satisfaction and delight, the small grain of sand hurtled into the depths of the abyss, not to mention the overall result was a spectacular character denoting "Saint". Retracting his hand from underneath his nose and revealing a pleased, confident smile, Xi Chen began his second tour of the storehouse's collection.

Slowly, but surely, the rough and dark exterior of the chunks of raw stone faded away to reveal thin, translucent outlines that roughly resembled their shapes. The more stones entered his vision, the broader his smile became.

Stones that contained trace amount of foreign material only revealed faint regions of distinctive color, whereas those with greater concentration were more visible to his eyes. Once he had made a full second sweep of the storehouse and confirmed his decision, Xi Chen tapped his nose before shouting to grab the attention of the storekeeper.

"I want these stones, and these stones only," he began after clearing his throat.

"I want stones labeled fifteen, thirty-seven, forty-six, seventy-nine, and ninety-three!"

The storekeeper raised an eyebrow in surprise and slight confusion, but silently ambled his way over to the first stone that Xi Chen had mentioned, motioning for his foremen to follow. The moment the gently trembling fingers neared the small chunk of raw stone, a shout interrupted his movements.

"Hold on! I wish to purchase the stone numbered fifteen!"